Stories from Monday, April 7, 2008

'Night at the Museum': Live exhibits draw crowd(04/07/08)Ladies of the 1880s, a wounded soldier with nurses at his side, a white-gloved elegant piano player all came to life Saturday in the Plymouth County Historical Museum. About 85 men, women and children gathered to watch the movie "Night at the Museum" and traveled back in time with a tour of the museum with living characters...

Big issues loom as legislative session nears end(04/07/08)The bottle bill, the smoking ban, the state budget -- Iowa's legislators have some big issues to decide with only 12 session days left this year. Senator Dave Mulder and Representative Chuck Soderberg, stopping in Le Mars Saturday morning, said the next few weeks before the session ends on April 22 will be busy ones...

Friends of Gehlen Ball salutes 'The American Dream'(04/07/08)"The American Dream" is the theme for the 21st annual Friends of Gehlen Catholic Ball which is set for this Saturday, April 12, at the Le Mars Convention Center. The 2008 ball will honor past and present service men and women and the sacrifices they made to allow communities to have the gifts of faith, education and patriotism, according to ball chairs Gene and Kathy Sitzmann...

Burglars rob landfill, flood office(04/07/08)Vandals broke into the Plymouth County Landfill and caused $10,000 in damages on Saturday. According to a report from the Plymouth County Sheriff's department, suspects broke into the landfill's office building by breaking the glass on the east door. ...

$300,000 loan secured for Remsen clinic(04/07/08)Nearly half the money for building a new Remsen clinic will come from a $300,000 zero interest loan announced Friday. The loan comes as rural development dollars from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) through the North West Rural Electric Cooperative in Plymouth County...

LCS student council keeps it clean(04/07/08)The Le Mars Community School Student Council took advantage of 60 degree weather on Friday to do a little spring cleaning. The 29 student council members grabbed rakes, brooms, garbage bags, and even a power washer to do some freshening up around the LCS middle school and high school campus...

Water department plans flushing for northern Le Mars(04/07/08)The Le Mars Water Department will be flushing the pipes on the northern end of town this week. The northeast portion of town will be flushed all day Tuesday and Wednesday morning, and the northwest portion of town will be flushed Wednesday afternoon and Thursday...

Lady 'Dogs seventh at Tomahawk Relays(04/07/08)It was a tough afternoon for the Le Mars girls' track team at the Tomahawk Relays in Cherokee on Friday night when they struggled to a sixth place finish. Spirit Lake Park won the meet with a team total of 147 while the Lady Bulldogs scored 42 points...

Bulldogs open outdoor season at Tomahawks(04/07/08)On the basketball court, Le Mars' Ty Westphal was a force to be reckoned with all winter. However, now that the basketball season is over, Westphal has traded the hard-court for the track and is still getting positive results. The Northwestern College basketball recruit led the Le Mars boys' track team to a fourth place finish at Cherokee's Tomahawk Relays on Saturday as they scored a team total 76 points. Spirit Lake Park won the track meet accumulating 134 total points...

Kyle, Karly Groon finish atop the high jump at EP-J Huskie Invite(04/07/08)It was a record-breaking day at the Huskie Invite in Elk Point, S.D. Friday. And Akron-Westfield's Kyle Groon tops the list of record breakers with his first place jump of 6' 7.5". Not only did Groon break the Huskie Invite record in the high jump, he also broke the school record. Plus, this jump will likely earn Groon a trip to the Drake Relays later this month...

Lady 'Dogs tennis drops two at Spirit Lake(04/07/08)The Le Mars Community girls tennis team saw its season record slip to 0-2 in the Lakes Conference and 0-3 overall with a pair of dual losses to Spirit Lake and Denison-Schleswig Saturday in Spirit Lake. Le Mars managed just one win combined in varsity, JV and exhibition matches versus conference foe Spirit Lake, losing by 9-0 sweep for the second consecutive meet against a conference opponent at the varsity level...

Bulldogs evens record with sweep of SC East(04/07/08)After suffering a 6-3 loss to conference rival Spencer in the season opener Thursday, the Le Mars Community boys tennis team bounced back with an emphatic 9-0 sweep of Sioux City East Friday at home. No. 1 singles Kyle Koth dominated his match with East's Adam Carlson 10-2 to lead things off, then No. 2 Anthony Schimek and No. 3 Eric Janssen battled through tough matches to keep the Le Mars sweep intact...

Cornelius 'Casey' DenOuden(04/07/08)Cornelius "Casey" DenOuden, 82, of Seney, died Saturday, April 5, 2008, at the Plymouth Manor Care Center in Le Mars. Cornelius "Casey" DenOuden was born Sept. 29, 1925, in Ireton, the son of Hildebrant and Kathyrn (Muilenberg) DenOuden. Casey was raised and educated in Ireton. ...

Alvin L. Scheitler(04/07/08)Alvin Scheitler, 87, of Le Mars, died Saturday April 5, 2008, at Floyd Valley Hospital in Le Mars. Alvin Leo Scheitler was born Sept. 16, 1920, at Oyens, the son of William and Martha (Masuen) Scheitler. He grew up in the Oyens area and attended St. ...

George J. Hoffmann(04/07/08)George J. Hoffmann, 86, of Merrill, was taken to heaven on eagles wings Friday, April 4, 2008, from Indian Hills Hospice Care Unit in Sioux City. George J. Hoffmann was born Nov. 8, 1921, the son of Theodore F. & Elizabeth (Wiltgen) Hoffmann. He attended country school in Johnson #5 Township and St. ...

Julianna T. Langel(04/07/08)Julianna T. Langel, 85, of Alton, died Sunday, April 6, 2008, at Orange City Area Health System Hospital in Orange City. Julianna T. Langel was born Dec. 18, 1922, at Alton, the daughter of William and Clara (Reith) Minten. Julianna was raised in Alton and received her education at St. ...

Ray and Zelda Sherlock(04/07/08)Ray and Zelda Sherlock of rural Merrill will celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary with an open house Sunday, April 13, 2008, at Perera's in Merrill from 2 to 4 p.m. The couple requests no gifts, please. Hosting the golden event will be their children: Steve and Kim Sherlock, Deb and Randy Olson, Bob Sherlock, Gene and Sara Sherlock, Judy and Mike Schoen, Roger and Brenda Sherlock and Kirk Sherlock. The couple have 21 grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren...

Setting the bar higher, or breaking the bank?(04/07/08)Iowa Gov. Chet Culver wants lawmakers, who are supposed to be ending this year's session in just over two weeks, to pass a measure raising the age at which students can legally drop out of school from 16 to 18. Last week, the state announced that by 2014, Iowa is projected to have 150,000 more jobs that workers by 2014. ...